Would you recommend Vonage ?

Would you recommend Vonage ?
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Subject Author Date
Would you recommend Vonage ? kimshapiro100 08-23-2006
Posted by Andrew Rossmann on August 23, 2006, 4:53 pm
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[This followup was posted to comp.dcom.modems.cable and a copy was sent
to the cited author.]

kimshapiro100@yahoo.com says...
> Would you recommend Vonage ?
> We are thinking of installing Vonage ..............$24.99 per month.
> We have Comcast cable / internet.
>
> I have heard that the sound quality is poor sometimes.
>
> Does anyone have any experience with them ?
>
> Positive, negative ?

I have it, but it's only for a 'work' phone line. (I work from home.) I
haven't had too many problems with Vonage itself. The quality varies a
bit, but so do regular phone calls, too. The Vonage caller-id info keeps
setting the date and time on my phone to random times (I cannot
configure the phone to NOT autoconfigure from caller-id info!)

My main issue is the reliability of the service it rides on. I have both
Comcast cable and DSL due to unreliability from Comcast (I'd consider
100% DSL if I could get faster speeds than 1500/384). As others posted,
if the power goes out, there goes your cable and VOIP. Using a UPS might
work, but that depends if Comcast's routers and other equipment are not
also out.

Even if you go with Vonage, you should still keep a standard phone line,
with a CORDED (not cordless) phone for emergencies. If you dicker with
the phone company, you may be able to strip your service down to just
local calls only. That should be enough for 911 and toll-free utility
emergency calls. Even if you want to make long distance calls, you could
use your cell phone if you have one, or one of those dial-around
services (pricey, but better than nothing in an emergency.)

--
If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying!
All junk mail senders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law!!
http://home.att.net/~andyross

NMFall 20%
Posted by Charles Newman on February 17, 2007, 4:11 pm
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> Would you recommend Vonage ?


Get Skype instead. The overall costs are much
cheaper. You can get a Skype-in number for
only $12 every three months and can add an
unlimited calling plan to the USA and Canada
for only $30 more per year. That, overall, is
much cheaper than Vonage.



Posted by Andrew Rossmann on February 18, 2007, 9:44 am
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chuck@backtalkradio.spammers.will.hung.by.the.neck.until.dead.backtalkra
dio.net says...
>
> > Would you recommend Vonage ?
>
> Get Skype instead. The overall costs are much
> cheaper. You can get a Skype-in number for
> only $12 every three months and can add an
> unlimited calling plan to the USA and Canada
> for only $30 more per year. That, overall, is
> much cheaper than Vonage.

But, Skype requires you have your computer on and running. I've also
found it very sensitive to any bandwidth congestion.

Vonage uses a separate adapter and normal phones. I've never noticed
audio issues, even when my computer is transfering files.

Skype is fine for computer-to-computer, but I wouldn't rely on it for
everyday use.

Both of these rely on the reliabilty of your ISP. I would still stick
with a stripped down, basic landline service for home use. 911 is too
important, and non-landline 911 is still iffy at best.

--
If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying!
All junk mail senders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law!!
http://home.att.net/~andyross

Posted by Warren on February 18, 2007, 4:10 pm
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Andrew Rossmann wrote:
> chuck@backtalkradio.spammers.will.hung.by.the.neck.until.dead.backtalkra
> dio.net wrote:
>> Get Skype instead. The overall costs are much
>> cheaper. You can get a Skype-in number for
>> only $12 every three months and can add an
>> unlimited calling plan to the USA and Canada
>> for only $30 more per year. That, overall, is
>> much cheaper than Vonage.
>
> But, Skype requires you have your computer on and running. I've also
> found it very sensitive to any bandwidth congestion.
>
> Vonage uses a separate adapter and normal phones. I've never noticed
> audio issues, even when my computer is transfering files.
>
> Skype is fine for computer-to-computer, but I wouldn't rely on it for
> everyday use.
>
> Both of these rely on the reliabilty of your ISP. I would still stick
> with a stripped down, basic landline service for home use. 911 is too
> important, and non-landline 911 is still iffy at best.

In most areas, Vonage now has e911. That makes it less of an issue, but
yes, you are depending on your ISP being up when you need it. But
traditional landline phones can, and do, go down, too. Having a back-up
system is important either way.

My back-up to Vonage is my cell phone rather than a basic POTS line. If a
tree falls, it could take out both my cable ISP service and a POTS line.
The odds of both ISP and cell phone service being out at the same time are
better for me than the odds of my cable and POTS line being out at the
same time.

Right now I feel that with Vonage and a working cell phone I'm safer,
911-wise, than I was with just a POTS line, even though POTS usually has a
higher level of reliability than either my Vonage phone or my cell phone
alone.

And even though my computer is normally on, there are already times when
I'm using all of it's processing power. Send me an IM at the wrong time,
and I'll hear the alert sound thirty seconds before the IM window appears.
Imagine if I were trying to run Skype at the same time! But my Vonage
adapter is it's own little mini-computer, and works just fine no matter
what kind of work I'm doing on my computer.

Skype may be cheaper than Vonage, but the key here is that it's really
cheaper, not just less expensive. Skype doesn't meet my needs for phone
service, so it really doesn't matter what they charge for it. Vonage does
meet my needs.

And since my needs don't include a lot of time actually talking on the
phone, the 600 minutes a month plan works for me, too. Even if I have to
pay a surcharge for minutes over 600, it's around 750 minutes before it
would cost more than the unlimited plan. And I don't think there has ever
been a month in my entire life that I used my home phone more than 500
minutes, let alone 750 minutes! So even if something unusual happens, and
I have a month this year that I use more than 750 minutes, I'm still
coming out ahead for the year by going with the $15/600min/month plan over
the $25/unlimited/month plan. And I get the same reliability, which is
important to me.

My $15/month, which includes long distance without toll charges, is better
than the $40/month of Comcast phone, or the $35/month for local POTS
service, especially when you consider that the POTS service is only local,
and long distance would be toll calls. It's still more than Skype, but
Skype can't offer me what I need despite my rather low threshold of needs.

Of course I still have to pay for HSI, but I'm paying for HSI anyway.
Someone who's Internet needs aren't great enough to pay for HSI, the
economies are a little different. But considering that many dial-up ISP's
run around or over $20/month, spending another $22/month for HSI, while
saving $20/month with Vonage, and getting no-toll long distance seems to
imply that now may be the right time for those people to move up to HSI
even if they don't need better than dial-up.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.

Maintain your landscape with Black & Decker:
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/blackanddecker





Posted by Andrew Rossmann on February 19, 2007, 4:46 pm
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wholzem@hotmail.com says...
> Andrew Rossmann wrote:
> > chuck@backtalkradio.spammers.will.hung.by.the.neck.until.dead.backtalkra
> > dio.net wrote:
> >> Get Skype instead. The overall costs are much
> >> cheaper. You can get a Skype-in number for
> >> only $12 every three months and can add an
> >> unlimited calling plan to the USA and Canada
> >> for only $30 more per year. That, overall, is
> >> much cheaper than Vonage.
> >
> > But, Skype requires you have your computer on and running. I've also
> > found it very sensitive to any bandwidth congestion.
> >
> > Vonage uses a separate adapter and normal phones. I've never noticed
> > audio issues, even when my computer is transfering files.
> >
> > Skype is fine for computer-to-computer, but I wouldn't rely on it for
> > everyday use.
> >
> > Both of these rely on the reliabilty of your ISP. I would still stick
> > with a stripped down, basic landline service for home use. 911 is too
> > important, and non-landline 911 is still iffy at best.
>
> In most areas, Vonage now has e911. That makes it less of an issue, but
> yes, you are depending on your ISP being up when you need it. But
> traditional landline phones can, and do, go down, too. Having a back-up
> system is important either way.
>
> My back-up to Vonage is my cell phone rather than a basic POTS line. If a
> tree falls, it could take out both my cable ISP service and a POTS line.
> The odds of both ISP and cell phone service being out at the same time are
> better for me than the odds of my cable and POTS line being out at the
> same time.

Just remember that the 911 situtation for cell phones is even worse than
VOIP! Every time there is a federal guideline to reach a certain level,
the companies complain and it gets pushed back.

--
If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying!
All junk mail senders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law!!
http://home.att.net/~andyross

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